Does not matter. The problem is he was arrested for it. nm

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_on_re_us/obama_effigy_8;_ylt=ApnYVC6hvVirz0zH0FdKaFxh24cA

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe

The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's activities in Washington.

The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002.

Procurement chief David H. Safavian was connected to probe of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (Melina Mara/twp - Twp)

It also contends that he concealed his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area. Abramoff is the person identified as Lobbyist A in a 13-page affidavit unsealed in court, according to sources knowledgeable about the probe.

Until his resignation on the day the criminal complaint against him was signed, Safavian was the top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.

The arrest occurred at his home in Alexandria. A man who answered the phone there yesterday hung up when a reporter asked to speak to Safavian.

Abramoff was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami last month on unrelated charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. He remains the linchpin of an 18-month probe by a federal task force that includes the Internal Revenue Service, the Interior Department and the Justice Department's fraud and public integrity units. His lawyer did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Abramoff's allegedly improper dealings with Indian tribes -- which netted him and an associate at least $82 million in fees -- prompted the federal probe. But investigators have found that his documents and e-mails contain a trove of information about his aggressive efforts to seek favors for clients from members of Congress and senior bureaucrats.

Accompanying Safavian and Abramoff on the 2002 trip to Scotland, for example, were Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, lobbyist and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Neil Volz, a lobbyist with Abramoff at the Washington office of Greenburg Traurig.

Like Abramoff, Safavian is a veteran Washington player. He is a former lobbying partner of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and previously worked with Abramoff at another firm. Both he and Abramoff have represented gambling clients and Indian tribes with gambling interests.

At the time of the golf trip, Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, where ethics rules flatly prohibited the receipt of a gift from any person seeking an official action by the agency. When Safavian asked GSA ethics officers for permission to go on the trip, he assured them in writing that Abramoff has no business before GSA, according to the affidavit signed by FBI special agent Jeffrey A. Reising.

Reising alleged, however, that Abramoff had by then already secretly enlisted Safavian in an effort to buy 40 acres of land that GSA managed in Silver Spring for use as the campus of a Hebrew school Abramoff founded. Safavian also allegedly tried to help Abramoff lease space for Abramoff's clients in an old post office building downtown.

On July 22, 2002, Abramoff sent Safavian an e-mail with a proposed draft letter that at least two members of Congress could send to GSA supporting the lease, according to the affidavit. Does this work, or do you want it to be longer? Abramoff asked.

Three days later, Safavian forwarded Abramoff an e-mail describing how an employee at OMB was resisting Abramoff's plan to lease space at the post office. I suspect we'll end up having to bring some Hill pressure to bear on OMB, Safavian messaged Abramoff.

On the same day Safavian discussed the golf trip with the ethics office, he sent an e-mail to Abramoff from his home computer, advising him how to lay out a case for this lease. Abramoff subsequently wrote in an e-mail to his wife and two officials of the school that Safavian had shown him a map of the property at his GSA office but had cautioned that Abramoff should not visit again given my high profile politically.

Safavian nonetheless arranged a meeting for Abramoff's wife and business partner with officials at GSA on the day before he departed for Scotland aboard Abramoff's chartered jet. The trip cost more than $120,000 and was paid for mostly by a charity founded and run by Abramoff, the Capital Athletic Foundation.

When Safavian was questioned by The Washington Post about the trip in January, he said he paid his share of the expenses and took unpaid leave. The trip was exclusively personal; I did no business there. . . . Jack is an old friend of mine, Safavian said.

But the complaint alleges that Safavian lied about his contacts with Abramoff on three occasions after his initial false pledge to the GSA ethics officer. The first was during a 2003 investigation by GSA's inspector general, who was responding to an anonymous tipster's hotline complaint; the second was in a March 17, 2005, letter to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and the third was during an FBI interview on May 26, 2005.

My nieces and nephews are raised by their white mothers... my grandson is being raised by a white mother and a white grandmother and a white great-grandmother, my stepchildren are being raised by their white mothers - that does not change the situation of how the world views these kids... and it does not change how they view themselves. Every one of the mixed kids in my family has a different answer for whether they are white, black, or biracial, and their answer does not necessarily go along with the color of their own skin.

I also think that being raised by a "white" grandmother was part of Obama's problem. She was an older generation, still scared of black people, and she was teaching Obama to be "white" and when he got older he realized that he was not "white". Because he looks like a black man, he obviously feels what a black man feels because he is treated in the world as a black man.

Yes, mixed children are beautiful - but they are "different" than us in that they are neither white or black and they are treated differently for that reason. I hope that changes before my grandchildren get older, but so far, they are still expected to conform to being white or being black...

If a mixed child acts white, he is accepted by the white kids and taunted by the black kids, if he acts black, he is taunted by the white kids and accepted by the black kids. The mixed children have to be taught from birth that they are a mixture of 2 heritages and to embrace both of them; but at this point, they still choose one or the other.

Some people think taking people's lives in Iraq is more important than saving lives in America. It's nothing new with this administration.

I believe every single person in this country is going to be negatively affected by this disaster, while Bush sits by and watches and just flashes that moronic grin of his, and Cheney and his Halliburton buddies get richer and richer. Don't look for his followers to wake up and see this idiot administration for what it is. Instead, look for them to become frustrated because their own lives will be falling apart, and look for the anger, hatred and rage on their part to increase. Look at this board. It's happening already, and it's only going to get worse. Just wait.

a wussy or not on a political message board? Is that your way of admitting that you're a bully?

It's a real shame that your mother didn't take the time to teach you how to treat people, didn't take the time to teach you manners. She let a vicious animal loose on society, and that's really sad....for society.

Embryonic stem cell research has been misrepresented. To the gullible public, who will believe ads like the one Michael J. Fox put out there, ESC has become the panacea and cure-all for all time. But it just isn't true. This quote from the article you posted, Brunson, is very important.

Reckless Hype and Overselling
Most of the campaign�s other ads have focused on �cures.� One shows a doctor saying that far from endangering women stem-cell research �could lead to cures for diseases that concern women like ovarian cancer.� Presumably the stem-cell treatment in question is bone marrow transplantation, an adult stem-cell technique widely in use for decades, and one in no way threatened by any legal barriers or related to embryonic stem cells or cloning. Another ad shows a pediatrician saying stem cells could help his patients, but offering no details. Another shows an Alzheimer�s researcher saying �stem cell research offers the promise of cures� for �so many devastating diseases like Alzheimer�s disease,� but offers no evidence to counter the near consensus in the field that this simply is not so. Many of these disingenuous ads repeat the claim that the initiative would ban human cloning, and none of the ads mention that all stem-cell research is already legal in Missouri and there are no prospects for that changing, or that the referendum would not support any new research.

We simply must educate ourselves and maybe, in the end, examine what our belief system is about life. Morally and ethically I believe ESC research to be wrong. It will be the crowning touch down the long downward spiral we started on when we legalized abortion.

I will end with a quote from President Bush from the same speech I referenced in another post, where he was speaking to parents of adopted children.

(quote)The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo. Every embryo is unique and genetically complete, like every other human being. And each of us started out our life this way. These lives are not raw material to be exploited, but gifts. And I commend each of the families here today for accepting the gift of these children and offering them the gift of your love.(unquote)

In the end, it comes down to respecting life and God. The decision lies with each of us. I choose life.

As far as Plame being covert or not before the "leak" -- that is a matter of opinion. Please do not state it as unassailable fact that was already outed. Because something is listed as fact in a far right-wing publication does not make it true. That's common sense lesson #1 for today....just as I would say because Michael Moore states something as fact also does not make it so.

I have always voted for dems regardless of race. Had Hiliary made it through the primary, I would vote for her, even though I personally believe that our country is not ready a female to hold that position. I speak from a female point of view and we are too often guided by our feelings and make rash decisions, but later end up regretting our action because we did not think it through. I would love to have Bill back as our president, life was good and he worked for the people.

if it isn't the b.c. then it would be Ayers, auntie or who knows what else. He is right to ignore this poppycock. You and I both know if his b.c. was not legitimate the McCain campaign would have drug out proof. How the heck else did they find some obscure possible aunt living in a housing project in the country illegally? That and you want me to believe they couldn't find out which hospital he was born in or whether he is an American citizen? Maybe one's reasoning ability improves with age, I don't know.

Actually the BBC is known for publishing both sides. So, in this case you wouldn't necessarily go to who published it as much as who actually wrote it. And the winner is.....

where I live or where you live. A republican who tries to suppress voter turnout by declaring that registrations on a certain weight of paper are invalid is not a good guy. Notice he was voted out of office? All youse defending Joe the Plumber and condemning a corrupt public official have your head screwed on backwards. The dems are in control now, so bleat on as you wish. we will defend your right to opinion as well as own. We're just that kinda folk.

Does not matter. The problem is he was arrested for it. nm

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe

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